Leif
by All-Stars-And-Skinnies
Summary: A story that is based in reality, but with minecraft-like elements, ores, activities, and creatures. Rated T just in case.
1. Prologue

Majestic mountains, shimmering streams, crashing waterfalls, treacherous cliffs, and a vast ocean. The island of Sallit carries these physical features, along with a few villages, cities, and a kingdom. The Kingdom of Sallitomin. The Kingdom is built high, made of stone and wood. It, and all of Sallit, is ruled by King Orion. The empire is made up of different levels. There's the Kingdom level, the manufacturing level, which is slightly lower than the Kingdom level, then the capital, city, town, and lastly, the smallest specks on the map, villages. That's where I am. In the especially small village of Caras.

Caras is a happy little village. We have a smith, a supply shop, and four small, cozy wooden homes. A village square is located at the center of the village, and it's generally used as a town meeting place or a flea market. The square is built around a small fountain with a statue of a creeper that was blessed by a passing magician to keep creepers and other monsters away from our village. By now, our village seems pretty nice, right? Well, I forgot to mention that it's located in the middle of a deep, thick forest, where nobody cares to exchange goods.

I was returning from a lumber trip to my job at the supply shop, which was called The WorkBench, with a good sized load of wood. With the wood, we could make plenty of wooden planks and sticks to sell. My boss, Darius, who was a big, old school guy with a deep, solid voice, wanted me to go deep in the forest to get the wood. "You don't want to cut down the trees by the village, because it would ruin the natural feel of Caras," is what he had told me.

Upon returning to The WorkBench, Darius handed me an envelope sealed with the king's crest. "It's for you," he said when I gave him a confused look. I peeled back the crest and pulled the folded paper out of the envelope.


	2. The Letter

_Dear Leif,_

_ The kingdom has recognized your superior gathering skills and has a great task for you. The Kingdom has been attacked by a horde of creepers and needs your assistance for rebuilding the community. Needed are as follows: Cobblestone, Coal, Wool, Wood, Iron, and a Golden Apple. All of these resources are necessary for rebuilding the Kingdom._

_ Rumor has it, as well, that a neighboring island is planning to declare war upon Sallitomin, so Gunpowder, Sand, extra Wood, and Diamonds would also be greatly appreciated._

_ Of course, your assistance will not go unrewarded. As payment, you and your entire village will receive six gold blocks each. Please help the Kingdom._

_ Greatest regards,_

_ Sallitomin Scribe_

I read through the letter several times, saying out loud, "This doesn't make sense. How could the kingdom know about me if they barely even recognize Caras itself? But on the other hand, six gold blocks! That's a lot of money. And there'd be some for everyone! For me, for Darius, for the Cosmo family and for the black smith. And there'd be some for Anabel Rose, the love of my life. She barely knows I exist, but she will, and we'll get married. I know it. "Alright, I'll do it," for Anabel. "How should I send my reply letter, Darius?"

"Don't worry about that, kid. You write the letter, and I'll take it to the Kingdom.

"Thanks, Darius. I owe you one. The next week I work for you, I'll work for half price." I only made three iron nuggets a week, which is practically nothing. But the Kingdom is so far away, half pay sounds worth it. I left work and headed to my cabin to stock up on a few supplies. Just the necessities: Water, wood, and cobble. I stepped out of my door and stood at the edge of the woods, bracing myself for the first step of an adventure.


	3. Watched

I had been walking for a few hours, and the sun was beginning to set when I saw the mouth of a shallow cave. I peered in to catch a glimpse of how deep it was. As I suspected, it only indented a few meters into the mountainside. This is where I decided to set up camp.

I quickly crafted a workbench and set it near the mouth of the cave. With some wooden planks and some sticks, I crafted myself a wooden sword to protect me from any enemies or rogue animals that came too close. Inside the cave, I constructed small fire to keep warm for the night. I leaned against the hard stone wall for support. Not a very good makeshift bed, but it would work for the night. I needed to sleep lightly, anyway.

I was awoken in the middle of the night by an eerie ringing in my ear. I winced in pain due to the whiny, high pitched noise. I looked around the cave to try to find the cause. For a split second, I could've sworn I saw a faint dark blue luminescence. I shrugged it off as my mind playing tricks on me, because the ringing had stopped as well. But I still couldn't shake the thought that I was being watched from a distance. I slept with my sword, just in case.

In the morning, I destroyed my workbench and collected the cool charcoal from the previous night. They would come in handy later for some torches or a longer lasting fire. I collected my sword and set off toward the raising sun. That was the direction towards the Kingdom, I was told by Darius before I had set off into the woods.

The day carried on with the hot sun beating down on my shoulders. Fatigue began to kick in around noontime, so I used my sword to kill a wild pig. I built a fire and cooked the meat until it was done to my liking. When I took a bite, it was the like the greatest thing that had ever grazed over my taste buds. Maybe it was because I had caught and prepared the pig myself, or maybe it was because my last meal was almost twenty-four hours before. Either way, the pork chops were delicious.

Sadly, the coals were too hot to pick back up, so after I put out the fire, I left the charcoal there. It's sad to waste good materials like that, but sometimes things like that are necessary. I had headed out once more toward the Kingdom of Sallitomin.


	4. Lady in a White Dress

She struggled against the ropes that bound her as the burly guards shoved her inch my agonizing inch down into the dark netherstone dungeon. Her screams were muffled by the gag in her mouth and tears streamed down her face. Her white dress was torn at the bottom hem, where she had stepped on it in her struggle down the steep staircase. One of the brutes had spoken up. "Look, princess. We don't want to hurt you. We're just going to take you down into the dungeons where Serriel can take good care of you. Now get your pretty little ass in gear." He grunted as he shoved her forward.

"S-Serriel isn't a b-b-bad guy. He takes c-care of his p-prison-ners. Esp-pecially the p-pretty, y-y-young ones," The other one stuttered. The bigger guard hit him in the side of the head with his heavy fist.

"Shut up, you stuttering idiot! You don't s-s-sound intimidating at all!" he mocked. "W-w-would you b-be s-sc-scared if s-someone t-t-talked l-like th-this when they were trying to take you into a dungeon?"

"W-who you c-c-calling an i-idiot?" He retaliated with a punch to the gut. The two dumb brutes became more occupied hitting each other rather than escorting the princess and they became a distracted tangle of punches.

The princes inched past them, ducking low and making herself as small as possible. She was stopped by a slender body before her. "Well, well, well," the young man said, arms crossed. "I should've known you two imbeciles couldn't achieve a task as simple as escorting this young, gorgeous lady to her cell without getting into a fight. Casper, keep you bumbling mouth shut, and Aiden, keep your giant hands to yourself. Do I make myself clear?"

For a man much smaller than them, the brutes seemed to fear him, and they did as he said. The guard with the speech impediment simply nodded while Aiden, the tougher looking one, clearly said, "Yes Serriel."

Serriel unbound the gag around the princess's head. "Speak, princess. What is your name?" His voice was smooth as silk and crisp as a winter day. The most evil men always seem the gentlest. When the princess refused to speak, he furrowed his brow and his jaw tightened. This time when he spoke, his tone was darker; more serious. "I'll ask you again, princess. What is your name? I know you can talk. I could hear you screaming through the gag from upstairs." What a beautiful lie. "Tell me." He caressed her cheek for a moment with the palm of his hand.

"Y-y-you best t-tell h-him, m-m-miss," Casper said.

Aiden chimed in. "We don't want to see Serriel angry, no we don't."

"Shut up, you two," Serriel snapped. "But they're right, darling. You don't want to see me angry, now."

The princess took a deep breath. "I'm Princess Carry of Sallitomin Kingdom."


	5. Pickax for Your Thoughts?

I decided at sunset that I was going to burrow underground for the night as a means of shelter and a way to collect some cobblestone. I sat down for a moment. I wasn't by any means any kind of crafting expert, so I had to think about how to make a pickaxe. I created a new crafting bench and placed it beneath a birch tree. I pursed my lips, deep in thought, and started crafting.

To my astonishment, I crafted a perfect wooden pickaxe on my first try. That wouldn't last long, though. Once I had gathered a little bit of cobble, I would have to make a stone pickaxe. That should last me a little while longer for sure.

I took my time, planning out how I wanted to dig under the dirt. Once I started scratching at the surface, I felt the eyes against my back again. The time had flew, and it was already nighttime, so I began digging faster, hoping to make a safe shelter before monsters were upon me. I could tell they were close, and I could hear faint rustling in the brush in the distance. I sealed myself underground, leaving a gap large enough to let in oxygen, but too small for any creatures to enter, and prepared a small room for myself by digging out the dirt and cobble and making a fire in the center. I made a dirt bed for myself, that night. It was a little more comfortable, but a lot dirtier. That night, I could sleep all the way through without worrying about monsters.


	6. Newsflash

"What do you mean they've stolen the princess?" King Orion yelled at his knight. "I personally told you, Noah, to guard her bedchamber!"

The white knight, Noah, was down on one knee before the King. "I'm sorry, my Lord. They must have captured her by other means of direction. Maybe–"

"Enough," the King boomed. "I don't want to hear your sorry excuses. All I want is my beloved daughter back. Now. That's an order, my Knight. I want you and your best squadron to find out the location of the princess, and I want you to bring her back."

"Yes, my Lord." The knight stood with his head still bowed to King Orion. He turned and hurried off to the Knights' quarters, leaping over deep craters left in the ground from the recent creeper attack. When he stepped into the knight's quarters, he shouted for everyone's attention. "Everybody form a line, shoulder to shoulder." Seeing as Noah was the head Knight, all of the lower knights followed his orders. He walked down the line slowly from left to right, looking at each warrior's face and armor. He stopped. "Mako, step forward," he said strongly. To his request, Mako, the blue haired knight stepped forward. He did this all the way down the line, selecting four men: Mako, Sen, Roderick, and the youngest knight, Salem. "Everyone else, get back to what you were doing." The line dispersed throughout the hall.

Salem shyly spoke up. He was only sixteen, but he showed great strategic potential. He wore iron armor and wielded a gold sword. [Armor and Swords were a sort of ranking system for the Sallitomin Knights. The lowest rank of armor is leather, then gold, iron, and diamond at the top. The lowest rank of sword is wood, for knights in training, then moving up to stone, gold, iron, diamonds, and lastly, the White Knight wields an Obsidian sword to make up for his lack of diamond armor.] "What exactly do you need us four for, Noah? Is there something going on?"

Noah nodded and motioned for the others to follow him down the corridors to the outside of the armory. "Yes, something important is going on, Salem." He took a deep breath and exhaled completely before he told them. "Our princess has been captured by another island."

All four chimed in at the same time. "What?" they exclaimed.

"That's impossible! Weren't you guarding her bedchamber, Noah?" Sen said. His diamond breastplate stood out from the rest of his iron armor. "How could the enemies get past the great White Knight?" Sen was second-in-command for the Knights. He wasn't very happy about it. He believed that he deserved to be the white Knight, not Noah.

"Sen, calm down. I'm sure he has an explanation for it. Tell him, Noah. Tell him that they came in from the back or something!" Salem looked up to Noah, viewing him as an older-brother type figure.

"Salem's right. I have no idea how they did it or who they are exactly, but they took our princess. That's all that matters right now. We have to rescue her," Noah pleaded.

Sen crossed his arms and grunted. "I guess it's what we have to do."


End file.
